Absence of fetal cell microchimerism in cutaneous lesions of lupus erythematosus

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Abstract
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease that predominantly affects women and can target multiple organ systems with severe life threatening complications. In some patients, however, lupus is limited to skin involvement, with discoid or subacute cutaneous lesions, and few of these patients develop severe disease.6 Mosca et al recently reported that the number of microchimeric cells found in patients with lupus nephritis was higher than in lupus patients without nephritis.7 Their results suggest that the severity of the disease may influence the level of fetal cell microchimerism.